Edgar Allan Pooh . . . as Holly Golightly's neighbor in BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S, but a similar exercise in Hate Speech by James Caan (as "Mississippi") during EL DORADO slid past America's mealy-mouthed pundits unremarked because all of them were and remain shaking in their boots at the thought of taking salvos at any product put out by John Wayne, Charlton Heston, or other National Rifle Association Founding Fathers (formally institutionalized on June 29, 2010, when U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito wrote in his D.C. vs. Heller decision that "Our Constitution actually IS a Suicide Pact," evidenced most recently this week at Umpqua CC in Roseburg, OR). Minorities take another lethal hit in EL DORADO, as the flick's most extensive shootout takes place in a Spanish Mission. This church's bells wind up holier than Swiss cheese thanks to the band of sacrilegious thugs led by Wayne, who also manage to blast some of the Sacred Gizmos from their wall niches with direct hits. Perhaps the most surprising aspect of EL DORADO is its take on American sexual mores. Whereas BREAKFAST campaigned to portray prostitution as a victimless "crime," EL DORADO's "Maudie" character is carefully drawn to boost American acceptance of the Old World's traditional Menage a Trois. Though there's no graphic depiction of a three-way featuring J.P., Maudie, and Cole, her key comment that she's "girl enough for both of" the guys is highlighted in the trailer, as well as the feature.

LeonLouisRicci By 1966 both John Wayne and Howard Hawks seemed to Dial Their Prospective Macho Personas Down a Notch and both are the Better for it. This Film is one of the Best for both the Actor and Director.Hawks and Wayne are more Natural here. The Director was always Striving for Realism but Rarely Attained and Strained most of the Time. His Trademark Overlapping Dialog Never seemed Real, Just a Filmmaker Pretentiously and Painfully Trying to be Real.In This Movie the Duke's Dialog Delivery is a Bit more Low Key and He Doesn't Project as much as Usual and the Words come out more Natural and Believable. Ditto for the Action Scenes.Robert Mitchum is Excellent and is the Best Actor on the set. He Dominates every Scene He is In and this is one of His Best Later Day Performances. The Ensemble Cast Work Well together with relative Newcomer James Caan managing to Hold His Own among the Two Towering Stars.The Supporting Players also Contribute to make this a much Better Film than the Stiff and Stagey "Rio Bravo" (1959). The Violence is at Times Brutal and the Cinematography is Wider and more Sumptuous than Bravo.Overall, with the help of a Great Sidekick Arthur Hunnicutt Providing the Levity and a Couple of Strong Female Characters, this is one of the Best Films for Hawks, Wayne, and Mitchum and really does Overshadow its Overrated Brother "Rio Bravo".

powermandan This was my very first John Wayne movie. I have been a massive movie geek, and realized I had not seen any of his movies until recent. I haven't been trying to avoid anything of his, it's all coincidence. What better way to start off than with cowboy classic, El Dorado? El Dorado is a remake of the Duke's 1959 film, Rio Bravo, co-starring Dean Martin and Ricky Nelson. Remake is the wrong description for this, due to its very different plot and characters. I would consider this to be a "rehash" movie. There are similarities in the characters and locations, but that's about it. Rio Bravo is about a sheriff (Wayne) that takes three unlikely men under his wing to stop a band of thugs from helping a criminal escape from prison. El Dorado is about Wayne taking a young man (Caan) under his wing to help his friend (Mitchum) battle a gang of crooks that he would have been a part of. Wayne is the same guy in both movies, but the Mitchum and Caan characters are similar to Martin and Nelson's characters, but more different than anything. I wouldn't say better, just different.What makes El Dorado a great movie right off the bat is that it's not about cowboys on a quest to find a treasure or anything like that. 95% of westerns follow that rule. Because it is about something else, El Dorado is already superior to many. I did mention the story earlier, in a nutshell, but me saying the whole story as simple as possible would be giving away too much. I love movies with stories that cover that much ground. But what makes El Dorado the fun movie that it is that we get to see all these cool and deep characters interacting in very fun ways. There's a few parts in the jail where they are just chilling out. Then action sequences erupt and there's great music behind it all. By only problem? It builds up to a weak ending where the bad guys are supposed to be slayed in a very noteworthy and exciting way. That is the only reason why I gave this 9/10 instead of 10/10. Other than that, this movie was awesome in every way.

buddyboy28 Six years after the success of Rio Bravo, director Howard Hawks re-worked elements of the plot for another great western with The Duke. The comparisons between the two films are in inevitable but this doesn't actually start to even resemble the previous film until around the halfway mark and by then it's already pulled you into it's story and warmed you to it's characters that it doesn't matter anyway. Personally I love both films but if I was forced to choose I'd probably say this was the superior film. I felt that Dean Martin and Ricky Nelson were too lightweight in Rio Bravo, whereas Robert Mitchum and James Caan here are perfectly cast and bring more to the table. I also think it works better to have an actual sheriff be the drunk (in this case Robert Mitchum in the role) rather than a deputy, and to have his friends try and help him get back on his feet and regain his dignity and self respect. But it's just a matter of opinion.Mitchum is fantastic in this as the drunken friend of gunslinger John Wayne. I'm not usually a fan of his but he really delivers the goods here. He's funny, pitiful and gutsy throughout. One of the best scenes shows him going into the saloon to get a bottle of whiskey and the townsfolk are laughing at him. It's a brilliant moment. He's been living in his own little bubble for months and it takes this for him to wake up and realise how far he's sunk. The way he walks out holding his bottle in such a pathetic manner and tries to keep it together when he sees his friend John Wayne looking at how terrible he looks, is a great piece of acting. Not a single word spoken from him. Equally good is the scene where he later goes back to the saloon and shows the bad guys and the residents he's still got what it takes. He really does put his own stamp all over this performance.And The Duke is The Duke. What more has to be said. By this time these roles just fit him like a glove but he has a really good part here to sink his teeth into rather than just been the typical hero. Near the beginning of the film he shoots a teenage boy in self defence, which results in the boy killing himself. This is a great sequence, where Wayne shows off just in his expression how guilty he feels. It also gives him a personal reason to get involved in helping out the boy's family later on.In many ways this is a funnier film than Rio Bravo but at the same time it's also a darker film in other ways and this is one such moment. John Wayne been responsible for a boy's death is certainly not something that would happen often in his films.James Caan plays a young cardsharp nicknamed Mississippi who befriends Wayne and Arthur Hunnicut plays Bull, an ex-Indian fighter turned deputy to Mitchum's sheriff. The film is really the Wayne and Mitchum show but these guys also have their moments and fit in nicely. The camaraderie between the four of them as they hole up in the sheriff's office, and their banter during the shootouts is consistently funny.Charlene Holt and Michelle Carey are both suitably sexy and provide some eye candy to balance out the male dominant proceedings, and Christopher George makes a memorable villain has a gunslinger with a moral code which makes a refreshing change in a traditional western.When it comes to the good guys vs bad guys, I think it works well if the good guys are outnumbered or are lacking in their skills to make them underdogs that you can really root for. Well in this case, these heroes are both outnumbered and lacking. J.P's struggling with his alcoholism, Bull is getting on in years, and Mississippi can't shoot straight. In fact his shooting's so bad he carries a shotgun instead of a pistol and then he's not much better. And Wayne suffers with periodic paralysis from a bullet that is lodged near his spine. So they have to make up for it with guts. Every time I watch this film I like it even more. They are just a great bunch of characters to hang out with.Hawks certainly knew how to make a great western and here he delivers again. From the great opening theme song right through to the climax, this is a joy for it's entire 2 hour running time. Despite the similarities it doesn't belong in Rio Bravo's shadow in my view, it deserves to be regarded as classic in it's own right.